It Makes Me Smile

-When, after Monday's family scripture reading, I asked the kids "does anyone have anything they want to talk about?" and heard Libby respond, "piwates!" (pirates).

-Hudson's promptness to get outside Wednesday morning after a night of snow.

-Counting the times Lincoln said, "watchee" consecutively before doing the thing he wanted me to see (I counted 20).

-Seeing how devoted Hudson is in taking care of his baby.

-Ah, Lincoln's new obsession with light switches. On, off, on, off, on, off. "Lincoln, stop it." "Liiiiiight!" On, off, on, off, on, off.

-Making friends with Jason - the caterpillar we found out in the grass. He lives in a jar in our house and is getting fat on lettuce.

-Binding off. Actually finishing a project! See the pattern here.

-Realizing that when Lincoln says, "gacapoo!" he's really saying "peek-a-boo!"

-Receiving next year's school supplies in the mail. So many fun books!

-Hearing Hudson declare this morning, after putting on his hiking boots, that he was going on a hike to kill animals for food.

-These guys:

Libby's Birthday

I suppose it's time to finally post pictures from Libby's birthday. It was a very fun day. She had a blast.

Libby blew out the candles before we were even done singing "Happy Birthday". We relit them just so I could get this picture. And yes, she's in a swimsuit. That's Libby for you.

She got a couple of new books,

and this fun thing, whatever it's called, i don't know, but it kept her busy for a long time.

And we gave her garden gloves, tools and a tote because she loves to dig in the yard. The tent in the background was a gift from Grandma and Grandpa Hawkins. And yes, she's in a different swimsuit. She changed between cake and presents. Come to think of it, she changed between dinner and cake as well.

Grandma and Grandpa Hawkins also gave her a cute little purse with pretend make-up, keys, phone, sunglasses and money purse in it and a super cute fuzzy pink jacket. Libby loves these gifts and I'm sad I don't have a picture of them yet. She's so adorable in her fuzzy pink jacket and I admit, it's pretty cute to watch her put on her "make-up" or as she calls it, her "hiccup". My goodness it was so funny to hear that. I remember calling her one day and her yelling back, "just a minute, mom. I'm putting on my hiccup!"

It Makes Me Smile

I missed this last week's "It Makes Me Smile" because it was a very busy weekend. But Sunday is here now, and things can calm down, and we can get back to normal at our house.

Here's what made me smile the week of February 5 to February 11:

-Maria's excited face as she watch the fairy godmother on stage present a ball gown to Cinderella in "The Slipper and the Rose"

-Hearing, and remembering, during the homeschool convention that I'm not the only one that has struggles.

-Listening to Libby count her steps as she dances, "One, two, three. One, two, three."

There were more, I know there were because I remember thinking on Monday (because I already had several at this point), "I'd better write these down or I'm going to forget them." But I didn't, of course and now I can't remember what they were.

I'll try to do better this next week.

It's a Ninja

Hudson: What's that?

Maria (drawing): It's a ninja.

Hudson: What's a ninja?

Maria: Chinese fighters with curved swords.

Hudson: Why is he wearing a black suit?

Maria: So he can blend in with the night. See, you can't see his mouth; you can't see his hair . . .

Hudson: You can't see anything!

Maria: Only his eyes. And that's a ninja. And this is how you spell ninja: N-I-N-G-A

I'm going to try to record more of their conversations because they crack me up and I can't remember any of it after about three minutes. I think they'll enjoy reading these when they get older.

It Makes Me Smile

I can't believe it's Friday already. My goodness, time goes by much too fast.

Here's what made me smile this week:

-Hearing Hudson quietly sing the theme song for Agent P (Perry the Platypus) while climbing into bed last night: "Doo bee doo bee doo bah, doo bee doo bee doo bah."

-Watching the pattern take shape as I knit and knit - and get close to the end.

-Seeing Maria play with her Justinian and Theodora paper dolls over and over again.

-Reading through the small stack of books I scored at the DI.

-Seeing the excitement come to Lincoln's face when he saw Ethan crouch down on the floor, because he knows that means wraslin' with dad.

-The sunshine. Glorious sun shinning through my windows.

School Lessons

We learned about Justinian and Theodora during school today. The kids curriculum comes with a lot of fun coloring pages and, for this lesson, Justinian and Theodora paper dolls. After the lesson there was this conversation:

Me: So what do you kids think of Justinian and Theodora?

Maria: I like Justinian because he's handsome. And I like Theodora because she's beautiful.

Hudson: I don't like them because I don't like people that live in Heaven.

Me: You don't like people that live in Heaven? What?

Maria: But Jesus lives in Heaven and He is the best person ever. Don't you like Jesus?

Hudson: But I learned that Jesus lives in outer space.

Maria: We don't know where Heaven is.

I love hearing little conversations like this. I wish I could remember more of them. I wish I could remember more of this one. It went on for a while then Hudson asked: What does Jesus do with people in Heaven?

Then Maria had to ask a serious doctrine question like: Where did Heavenly Father come from?

Ha ha! I love having my kids home all day. I love talking with them about these things. I love hearing them talk to each other about these things.

So, while I am glad Heavenly Father and Jesus made their way into our history lesson today, I do wish Maria remembered more about the Byzantine Empire than Justinian was handsome and Theodora was beautiful. Oh well, I guess in the mind of a 7 year old those are the most important details.

Oh, Libby!

Only one day into Libby's fourth year of life.

I know she was only trying to help.

I told her this morning, "I'll make some lunch and then we can have some of your birthday cake!" I went up stairs for just a couple minutes. Then I heard Libby screaming. She came upstairs with a streak of frosting on her foot. And I knew, just from that, what had happened. I felt bad for her foot, but I was just hoping the cake stand made it through the ordeal (which it did).

When I made it downstairs to survey the damage I realized she'd gotten the ingredients for lunch out of the fridge and put them on the table. I'm guessing she was going to do the same thing with the cake. She got out the step stool, climbed it, and tried to carry the cake down with her - oh, but that glass cake stand is heavy. Poor Libby. And her poor toe. She may lose a toenail.

There's that independent part of her I told you about yesterday. To look on the silver lining: I love her "can do" attitude. That girl thinks she can do anything.

At least we all got a slice of cake last night. Birthday pictures coming soon.